Earlier this week, Flightnetwork.com released a poll entitled “Overworked Canadians Wasting Precious Vacation Time on OBLI-Cations.”

Let it be known that I’m all for leisure, pleasure and general hedonism. I’d never crack a whip over anyone’s head, unless it was the only way to force them to stay at the spa for an extra hour. So, naturally, I was ready to step in with my sarong-cape and defend everyone’s right to a Tahitian getaway.

However, upon closer inspection I found myself wanting to punch out the press release itself.

In case you’re not familiar with the expression “Obli-Cation,” Urban Dictionary defines it like so:

Taking valuable vacation time and dollars for obligatory family or friend visits. Usually oblications blow your PTO balance at work, meaning you will not have a real vacation in the foreseable future.

This particular poll, which evidently surveyed a snivelling wad of Canada’s bitchiest employees, unearthed the following statistics:

56% of respondents admitted they have used vacation time on an Obli-Cation once in the past year.

Others had even less time to relax: 16% had to travel for Obli-Cations twice, with the same number indicating ‘forced travel’ three or more times.

12.5% claimed that all of their vacation time is already earmarked for required travel.

We asked for Club Med, not Club Dead!

So what exactly constitutes an Obli-Cation? Flightnetwork.com narrowed it down to the following unbearable life events: weddings (41%), funerals (18%), baby related events and housewarmings (tied at 13%), assorted religious events (8%) and graduations (6%).

To summarize: screw the family and friends who desire our company, we Canadians would rather go on a cruise. What’s this about Uncle Emmet’s funeral? We asked for Club Med, not Club Dead! Ugh, how INCONVENIENT!

Apparently, not everyone surveyed in the poll became slaves to these outrageous demands. One third called in sick for their “mandatory travels,” 30% used “too much work” as an excuse to bow out, 19% claimed they couldn’t afford the trip and 17% “blamed their absence on children or pets.”

Um. Okay. Let me do some math here for you: this seems to indicate that a measly 1% of people who backed out of their Obli-Cations were honest and said something to the effect of “gee sis, thanks for thinking of us. We’d really love to fly out to Moose Jaw for Jordyn’s elementary school graduation, but we’ve already made plans to go to Disneyland. Send some pictures, will you?”

All chuckles aside, what I’m really getting at here is something spectacularly cheesy: this life would be nothing without people. If someone cares enough to invite you to one of their defining moments – a wedding, a graduation, a christening, a bar mitzvah – cherish it. Be there for them. This isn’t somebody stealing your tanning time. This is an opportunity to connect with people who matter, in a life that’s altogether too short.

As a professional travel writer, I’ve travelled to spots that would knock your socks off – the Bahamas, Switzerland, Morocco – but here’s a secret, from somebody who has “lived the dream:” scenery only takes you so far. It’s the company that makes a lasting impression, and it doesn’t discriminate between the turquoise ocean in St. Lucia and a wading pool in Ajax, Ontario.

Reb Stevenson is a firm believer that life doesn't have to suck.
She's a writer and videomonger who enjoys cooking, travelling, long distance walking and brevity when it comes to these bios. Nothing ... read moremakes her quite so happy as a montage in an '80s movie.
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